Law Enforcement Core Statistics (LECS)

For over 25 years, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has been the authoritative source for national statistics regarding the personnel, operations, policies, and procedures of law enforcement agencies (LEAs). These data are primarily collected through BJS’ core law enforcement data collection programs: the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) core and supplement surveys and the Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA).

Through the Law Enforcement Core Statistics Program (LECS), BJS combines these collections into a cohesive law enforcement collection program and reshapes their content to focus on agency performance as well as contemporary topics related to agency staffing, regulations, and policies. By redesigning the component collections of LECS, BJS will be able to provide detailed information about LEA performance that aligns these collections with an ongoing national debate about the need for new measures and metrics for law enforcement agencies.

Current collections

Beginning in 2018, BJS and RTI will administer the Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA), a complete enumeration of the Nation’s state, county, local, and tribal LEAs. Data will be used to produce estimates describing the staffing and function of these agencies by type and size. For more information on CSLLEA, visit:CSLLEA2018

Beginning in February 2019, BJS and RTI will administer the 2018 Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies (CLETA), an enumeration of basic training academies for sworn law enforcement officers in the U.S. For more information on CLETA, visit:CLETA2018.

Coming Soon!

Beginning in fall 2019, BJS and RTI will administer the 2019 Survey of Law Enforcement Personnel in Schools (SLEPS). For more information on this collection, visit: SLEPS2019.

Past collections

In 2016, BJS and their data collection agent, RTI International, administered the first supplement to the LEMAS, Body-Worn Camera Supplement (BWCS), and the next wave of the LEMAS core. More information about these two collections can be found on their webpages